Callaway is back with the iconic Big Bertha brand, focusing on game improvement irons with high levels of ball speed, forgiveness, and distance.
Could these clubs be game changing for players struggling with strike and distance across their irons?
The Technology
The Callaway Big Bertha irons use varying amounts of precision tungsten weighting both internally and externally. Internally, we see up to 43g in some irons, designed to help players launch the ball easier in the longer clubs and control the ball better with the shorter ones.
Another variation throughout the set is that each iron has a unique A.I. designed face pattern. This means each club face has been developed to optimise speed and spin across the face across the entire set.
For these game improvement irons, we see the typical features such as thicker top lines, wider soles, and enhanced offsets. These irons are developed to inspire confidence and create forgiveness leading to a straighter ball flight.
Callaway has also included their patented Urethane Microspheres to produce high ball speeds with a lightweight and satisfying feel - making these clubs easy to swing while maintaining speed.
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Callaway Big Bertha 23 Irons Review
Looks and Feel
These new irons come complete with a Black Smoke finish with which Callaway look to create a premium feel to this set. The middle of the face and topline have a matte finish while the outer edges are more polished. I personally really like the overall finish to the clubs, as they help to make them look a bit sleeker and move away from the clunkiness we sometimes see in game improvement irons.
There is a lot of detailing going on with these irons. We see the Big Bertha logo across the back of the club in big white capitals just below some red detailing. This branding sits on top of a textured carbon fibre weave pattern on the lower cavity of the club.
Although this could easily feel like too much for some, I personally think the colour scheme, varying textures and detailing works very well and helps to evoke a more premium feel to a game improvement club.
The main sense I got with the looks, sound and feel in these irons was having some power behind the ball. Generally, they’re very easy to hit and give a nice crisp sound at impact. That does however change with off-centre strikes, which provide some nice feedback to the golfer while still being forgiving in the shot outcome.
The clubs feel very light which allows you to get some speed behind your swing, which combined with the A.I. faces for higher ball-speeds, led to some interesting results from Foresight...
The Numbers
One of the ways we put these irons to the test was by comparing them to the Ping G30 Irons – a legendary set of irons in the game improvement category, from roughly 10 years ago. I wanted to see how much of an advancement there had been in game improvement technology in that timespan.
Something I was finding while hitting off the mat at an indoor range, was that every so often I had a very clunky strike with the longer irons having such wide soles. This led to a few low left shots that slightly skewed the data. My longest total distance with the 6-iron was 197 yards with the shortest being 167 - 30 yards is a big difference.
I did feel initially that it was harder to get a clean strike with the longer irons, and that they just felt very ‘clunky’ at times. It was fun to be able to push almost 200 yards of total distance with a 6-iron, but I wasn’t a fan of the inconsistency seen in terms of strike and distance at the upper ends of the set.
Another interesting find from the Foresight data was that every single one of the shots with the pitching wedge produced right to left sidespin. This allowed for a nice draw with the wedge, which seemed to carry through into the rest of the sets for the majority of the shots hit, and is probably understandable given the offset look at address which is promoting this shape.
The main thing I took from our testing at Hukd Golf, was that these irons were claiming to give you extra speed and distance, and they truly were doing that. If you’re a player looking for a set of game improvement irons with speed and distance as the overall priority, I’d say this would be a pretty good set to look into.
Outdoor Performance
Although I was struggling to strike the 6-iron consistently on the mat indoors, I found it much easier and more forgiving out on the course. Personally, I’ve always been one to replace longer irons with hybrids. However, when testing the longer irons out on the course I got a very similar feel and strike as I do with my current Callaway Rogue hybrids.
Due to the consistency issues seen in testing, I wasn’t convinced to be swapping them out anytime soon for the Big Bertha irons, but I could see a lot more potential in the longer irons on the course than indoors.
A big thing I noticed taking these clubs on the course was the lack of spin and control around the greens. Straight away from the foresight data we can see the spin rates are a lot lower throughout the Big Bertha irons than the older Ping G30’s.
I found chipping and bunker shots very difficult to control with the Big Bertha wedge and would probably opt for specialised wedges (the Callaway CB Wedges would be a great place to start?) alongside these irons if I was to consider getting them.
Callaway Big Bertha 23 Irons Verdict
The Callaway Big Bertha irons would be great for someone with an older game-improvement set looking to gain some speed and distance. The design is very detailed and gives a more premium design than I feel we tend to see in game improvement irons.
I’d probably look to add in a more specialised wedge just to help with the issue of control seen around the greens using the Big Bertha wedge.
Overall I was impressed and despite a couple of issues with the longer irons during the indoor testing, they managed to win me round on the course, which is where it matters.
Would I Use Them?
The issues around control and consistency in these irons mean I wouldn’t consider putting them in the bag. With that said, the focus areas of these irons were distance, forgiveness and speed, and the Big Berthas managed to hit the mark in all of these aspects at some point during the testing process.
Who Are They Aimed At?
I think a lot of game improvement players specifically looking for some extra distance in a modern design would love these irons.
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Ping G430 Irons Review
Callaway Big Bertha 23 Driver Review